Page 17 of For Butter or for Worse
I liked that Georgie.
“Are you going to bake some bread, or what?” I ask and force myself to look away. I don’t need reminders of the girl I knew. Just the sight of her disheveled and undone is twisting up my insides. “I’ll warn you, Meg doesn’t like being left on her own, and you can’t afford for her to quit on you.”
And then I leave, heading straight for my truck so I can put some distance between us. I really shouldn’t force Georgie to jump right into the morning baking, but it’s not like I’m all that good at it anyway. Her work ethic will have her joining Meg in half an hour or less, and I meant it when I told her I planned to get us in front of Judge Delgado as soon as possible.
If I don’t, I’m going to chicken out.
It’s too early to call the courthouse, so I drive to the boardwalk. Coop won’t be happy about my early visit, but this feels like the kind of situation a best friend should know about. Sure enough, he’s still sound asleep in his boat house and looks like he doesn’t have a care in the world. That’s not true, but Coop would never admit he’s got his own worries. Still, I need his easygoing nature this morning if I’m going to survive the day.
Grabbing a pillow, I smack him in the face at the same time I say, “Up and at ’em, Heyes!”
He wakes with a shout, almost as entertaining as Georgie’s reaction this morning as he flails about. “Whosere?” When his eyes find me in the dimnessof the cabin where he sleeps, he groans and falls back onto his pillow. “Someone had better be dying, Kingston.”
I didn’t used to be a morning person, but running the bakery necessitated that I change my habits. Coop, who flies tourists around in a floatplane, has no such reasons, and he’s never been good with early wakeups.
“This is equally important as death,” I tell him and lean against the driftwood table we built a while back. “I’m getting married today and need a witness.”
He lifts himself onto one elbow, squinting at me as he yawns. “Yeah, definitely heard you wrong just now. I thought you said you’re getting married.”
I lift an eyebrow.
Taking a slow breath, Coop looks around the boat and then sits up. “Okay. Well, who’s the lucky woman?”
I expected more from him. Most likely, he’s gearing up to laying his thoughts all out there. Especially once he hears who my prospective bride is, he’ll have plenty to say.
I fold my arms, prepping myself for his reaction. “Georgie Carpenter.”
He blinks. “Georgie Carpenter.”
“Yep.”
“As in the Georgie Carpenter who used to make you think holding hands and walking along the beach was fun. The same one who called me an idiot on multiple occasions and had you so whipped that even during the school year you would rather video chat with her than get out of the house and live your life.”
Heat rises up my neck. Coop wasn’t thrilled when Georgie and I started dating. I always wondered if it was because I spent most of my free time with her rather than hanging out with the guys, and it’s looking like I may have been right. There aren’t many of us left in Willow Cove, but Coop has generally been as single as I have with no indication that that will ever change. Though it’s not like Georgie and I will be married in truth, she’s still going to take up some of my limited free time.
I barely see Coop as it is.
He’s not done, adding one last qualification to his list. “You’re talking about the woman who disappeared without a trace after she literally left you stranded on an island when you proposed to her?”
“Technicallyyouleft me stranded on an island. But yes.” I wait for him to have any sort of reaction that isn’t blank confusion. “That’s the one.”
His eyebrows dip low. “Can I askwhyyou’re marrying Georgie Carpenter today?”
I explain the situation as succinctly as I can, growing more tense with every nod he gives me. He’s being way too calm about all of this. “So we’re heading to the courthouse today to make it official,” I finish.
Coop takes a breath, his expression still decidedly empty, and then he climbs out of bed and stands in front of me so he can put his hands on my shoulders. “King, I mean this with all the sincerity of our lifelong friendship: you’re an idiot.”
Don’t I know it.
Chapter Seven
Georgie
It’s been a longtime since I last imagined my hypothetical wedding day with King, but it certainly wasn’t this—standing in the judge’s office lined with pegboard walls and maroon carpet that has seen ten years too many. I’m not even in a dress, though I did put on some nice slacks and my favorite pair of heels. They still don’t bring me up to King’s height, which is wildly unfair. I stopped growing at sixteen, and it feels like he grew six more inches after I left Willow Cove.
For some reason, the suit he’s wearing is really highlighting the fact that this man is so much more than the boy I left.
While the judge shuffles through some papers, a throat clears in the corner of the room, pulling my attention that way for the millionth time. Cooper Heyes has been glaring at me from the moment I showed up at the courthouse like it’s his personal mission to silently drive me out of town. He and I were never friends, but clearly he’s holding as much of a grudge as King is.
